Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson leaves UK Music to join Palantir

Former Labour Party deputy leader Lord Tom Watson has become a senior vice president at controversial American AI firm Palantir.

Announcing his appointment on X on Friday (September 18), Watson said Palantir was “the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence”. Founded 20 years ago by billionaire Peter Thiel, the company has financial backing from the CIA, with clients including the US and Israeli militaries, ICE, the FBI, and the NHS.

Watson said the company had “challenges” and although some criticism was “propaganda” there were “legitimate questions about large technology companies and sovereign control”.

Responding to the news, Green MP Sian Berry said his role was “yet another example of the corrosive revolving door between politics and big business lobbying that has no place in public life”.

She continued to say that the company had “no business at all in our NHS and public services”, and that Watson had been employed to “lobby his friends in the Labour government.”

That sentiment was echoed by many on social media, with one X user saying the move was “incredible”.

After six wonderful years at UK Music, I'm joining Palantir UK as Senior Vice President.

Palantir is the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence: helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS… pic.twitter.com/Kb3ZP2F5um

— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) September 18, 2026

“You spent six years telling us you care about culture, community, and the arts, only to immediately jump ship to a US spy-tech giant founded by Peter Thiel,” they wrote. “The revolving door between ex-Labour politicians and corporate tech money continues to spin at supersonic speed”

His role at UK Music was similarly divisive, and back in 2020, the organisation was was forced to defend his appointment after it was met with industry-wide criticism.

A report by The Times at the time said Watson’s new role had “alarmed” the British Phonographic Industry, whose members account for 85 per cent of music sales and who are among the ten music groups with directors who sit on the board of UK Music.

There was reportedly concern in some camps about Watson’s knowledge of the UK music industry, as well as the reported cost of his annual salary.

The report also cited a number of controversies which occurred during Watson’s parliamentary career, particularly in terms of his support for false allegations of child sexual abuse such as those disproved by the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in early 2020.

There were subsequently calls to block Watson from receiving a parliamentary peerage.

Louis Mosley, the head of UK and Europe at Palantir Technologies, welcomed the appointment of Watson, saying he brought a “deep understanding of how AI is changing the ways the state can help people in Britain, where more than one in six Palantirians are based”.

Mosley went on to say Watson had also given up his parliamentary pass and that his Palantir contact prevented him from returning to the Lords as an active peer while working for the company.

In a statement, Watson said Palantir was “helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS staff get patients treated and home sooner”.

“Part of my role will be to correct false information while working with our engineers to ensure privacy, security and respect for sovereignty are at the heart of everything we do.”

When Watson resigned from his position as the Labour Party’s general election co-ordinator, he shared a a letter to the party’s leader Ed Miliband, in which he famously advised the Labour Party leader to check out Castleton sibling duo Drenge, who later said they were not “totally overjoyed” about the random namecheck.

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